A new grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will give students a chance to earn course credit while learning about the cultures of countries they visit for service projects or study-abroad trips.

The $100,000 Humanities Connections grant will help Missouri S&T’s history and political science, English and technical communication, and arts, languages and philosophy departments develop a new minor in Latin American Studies. Courses include History of Science in Latin America, Sustainable Foods in Latin American Literature, Sustainability as Trope and Theme in Latin America, and Contemporary Latin America. The first course will be offered on campus this fall.

Faculty say the minor will help S&T students who volunteer for service projects or study in Latin America gain a deeper cultural understanding that will allow them to connect to these communities and better understand their needs.

The new humanities courses will encourage that cultural understanding and increased communication, as well as involve humanities students in technically based experiential learning opportunities.